Whilst
migrant workers are protected by the same laws that protect other workers in
the UK and should receive equal pay to British workers doing the same work the
problem is that many don’t know their rights. As they are also often invisible from
other workers then this makes it easier for them to be exploited.
Seeking to
organise workers of all nationalities, UNITEtheUnion across Ireland, North and South has thus produced a series
of Know Your Rights leaflets in 12 community languages: Bulgarian, Czech,
Hungarian, Latvian, Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, Romanian, Russian, Slovak,
Ukrainian and Tetum.
The leaflets
point out that workers ‘are entitled to the following statutory rights and protections
from the day you start work. It does not matter how many hours you work.’ They
arose following the exposure of chronic mistreatment in the meat industry with
some workers involved in packing up to 20,000 chicken breasts a day.
They explain
rights on:-
Ø Equal pay
/ equal value
Ø Sex
discrimination / harassment
Ø
Discrimination on the grounds of religion / belief
Ø Age
discrimination
Ø Racial
discrimination / harassment
Ø Disability
discrimination / harassment
Ø
Victimisation for trade union membership / activity
Ø
Victimisation for Health & Safety activity
Ø Itemised
pay statement
Ø Unlawful
deduction from wages
Ø Dismissal
because of pregnancy
Ø Written
reasons for dismissal during pregnancy / maternity leave
Ø Time off
for ante-natal visits
Ø 52 weeks’
maternity leave for all women
Ø Sunday
working rights
Ø Dismissal
/ victimisation for enforcing a statutory right
Ø National
Minimum Wage
Ø Time off
for holiday and breaks
Ø Dismissal
/ victimisation for whistleblowing
Ø Time off
for family emergencies
The
information is not intended to be exhaustive and, of course, in situations
where there is union organisation then workers should check with their Unite
rep, official or organiser, if something isn’t covered in the leaflet.
A recent
report shows how distributing such information everywhere is vital.
Some
Nepalese workers have been pressurised into paying extortionate, illegal broker
fees of around £4,300 to third-party recruitment agencies in their home
countries to secure a visa.
The report provides
a breakdown of the work process for a fruit picker, and shows how workers
endured debt bondage, long hours, abuse by supervisors, and systematic wage
theft. Meanwhile, the government has yet, despite its promises to do so,
undertaken a full review of the SWS in the agricultural sector in this decade.
Little wonder then that a number of NGOs have written to the Immigration
Minister Robert Jenrick MP asking him to act.
Now with the
passing of the Illegal Migration Bill it is going to be even easier for
employers to exploit migrant workers with the research and policy organisation
FLEX (Focus on Labour Exploitation) stating: ‘The Bill is devastating and will
have far reaching consequences for people both directly and indirectly
affected. It will drive large numbers of people underground, creating fear of
authorities and public services. People in exploitation will fear seeking help.
The Bill has been described as a ‘Traffickers Charter’ as it provides
traffickers with the ultimate coercion tool.’
To download
the Unite leaflets go to:- https://unitetheunionireland.org/know-your-rights/
Read “Debt.
Migration and Exploitation”
No comments:
Post a Comment